Blogging live events is an excellent way to earn more readership and create immediate results for your personal or business blog. There is something dynamic and interesting about following an event as it is experienced live, even if readers only catch the story a few days later. For professional blogs, events like trade shows and hosted entertainment are good subjects for this kind of kind of live treatment. For personal blogging, an experience like a trip, exciting conference, concert, or even a wedding can be a great topic to blog about. Here are a few tips on how to do it the right way.

Choose Your Competencies

Recording your experiences live – no matter how you choose to do it – is difficult because of the sheer amount of information involved. This is especially true at conference or trade shows, but also applies to entertainment events. Everywhere you look there are sights, sounds, and impressions to describe, along with a healthy dose of facts or data that the reader needs to know. The best way to deal with this is to choose your competencies well beforehand. Pick out what you are going to focus on, and limit it to only a few points. If your blog specializes in humor, look for humor. If you talk about technology, focus on the tech details. Read through other live blogs and see what sort of impression you like reading about, then narrow your own writing to reflect the same topics.

Plan Your Schedule

If you are heading out to an event with a set timeframe, take a little time beforehand to carefully plan out what you will be blogging about (or at least taking notes on, depending on your approach) and when. Set aside time for discussing your major competencies, or use your schedule to remind yourself to move from one place to another for different perspectives and additional information.

Match Your Device to Your Goals

Even when blogging about a live event, you have a number of different devices you can use (desktop aside). Phones, laptops, tablets, and hybrids are all contenders here. Pick the devices that best match your space and goals. A wedding, for example, is unlikely to have room for your laptop and taking constant notes through the service will probably be frowned upon, so a minimalistic approach is recommended. In an active trade show, on the other hand, it may be best to take your phone and laptop and switch between the two as needed, using your phone for on-the-move work or crowded venues and your laptop for lengthier, sit-down meetings.

Use Offline Software When Necessary

Do not count on a wireless Internet connection for your blogging work. If you are actually live blogging, you should confirm which areas have WiFi reception near the event, preferably in person. Otherwise, use offline software to record your blog lines. Plenty of offline apps for a variety of devices can help you with this, like Textilus and WordGraph; and most of them are free, too. Then, head to an area with wireless reception to quickly post the content to your blog.

Take Photos When They Help Viewers

Blogging an event gives you the option of take a multitude of photos to back up your text, but it is wiser to take a more thoughtful approach rather than post an endless stream of images and captions. As a handy rule, only post images that actually help viewers understand what is going on. If you are describing something, a picture will be worth – well, if not a thousand words, at least quite a few you won’t have to write. New products, special moments in the event, and other key points are the time for photos. Random pictures of friends, tables, and shoes are not appropriate, unless there is something absolutely hilarious about them.

Update on Networks, Too

If you are going to blog about an event while you are there, let other people know! Post on your social network, make a few tweets, and make a quick blog post about the event so that all your readers know what to expect. This is especially important when it comes to live blogging, but it is a useful tip for all types of event blogging. Let people know what to expect and boost their curiosity!

Larry is an independent business consultant specializing in social media trends, business, and entrepreneurship. Follow him on Twitter at @LarryAlton3 and LinkedIn.

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